>>I think it would be rather cool and anchronistically fitting if HR ER were to profer Letters of Marque to a new generation of sea dogs to go fight the Somali pirates (and maybe take out a few Iranian and Venezulan tankers as well.
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>The link I came across earlier (http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=69204§ionid=351020501) seems to indicate that one half of the problem can be solved without involving middle men (s). And once the pirates recognize that they will be well paid for for capturing and allowing access to vessels flying specific flags they'd be less likely to bother with others......
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>>Our Stephan Decatur made rather a name for himself when "millions for defense but not one cent for tribute" was the motto and the Barbary Pirates were "protecting the fishing rights" in the Med and being paid off by pusillanimous potentates of decadent Europe <s> (The Marine's Hymn still has that line about "to the shores of Tripoli" )
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>Had to google him. I'm a little confused by this snip from Wikipedia (my bold):
>"In May 1815, Commodore Decatur sailed his squadron of ten ships to the Mediterranean Sea to conduct the Second Barbary War, which put an end to the international practice of paying tribute to pirate states. Decatur was dispatched to Algiers to secure the release of American slaves, to obtain an end to tribute, and finally, to procure favorable prize agreements."
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>Given the date then why the remit to release slaves?

The problem is who was enslaved. I think that this refers to pales enslaved by "barbarians".